PITTSBURGH — It was perhaps the unlikeliest victory in the history of the Winnipeg Jets 2.0.

In a building where they had never won before, with a patchwork defence that was ridiculously inexperienced, the Jets did what no one expected them to do.

They beat Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins with an outstanding team effort, a massive contribution from the aforementioned defence corps and a strong performance by goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.

Rookie defenceman Ville Heinola got his first NHL goal and fellow blue-liners Tucker Poolman and Neal Pionk also scored, and Hellebuyck made 37 saves, as the Jets shocked the Penguins 4-1

It was the first win in Pittsburgh for the Jets franchise since Dec. 26, 2006, when they were the Atlanta Thrashers.

The Penguins had won 18 straight games (14-0-4) since then. It was the longest such active home winning streak against one franchise of any of the four major North American sports.

“I felt good in the net and I thought the guys in front of me played very hard,” Hellebuyck said. “I thought the guys on defence were fantastic. They were blocking shots, they were controlling pucks. They were doing exactly what they were asked to do. As the game went on, they got even better and that’s a good sign. It was a team win tonight.”

Throughout the day on Tuesday, the Jets woes on defence dominated the news.

They were starting six players who were not regulars on the team last year and were missing their two most savvy veterans — Josh Morrissey and Dmitry Kulikov.

With many fans fearing a blowout at the hands of the Penguins, who always seem dominate the Jets in Pittsburgh, things got immediately worse as Crosby scored just 32 seconds into the game.

But Hellebuyck shut the door from there and the Jets turned up the offence, getting goals from Heinola and Nikolaj Ehlers in the first period and from Poolman and Pionk in the second.

Patrik Laine and Mark Scheifele each had three assists.

The Jets forwards did a good job of coming back to help the defence, and while the shot attempts were 29-2 for the Penguins in the third period, the visitors held on for the win. The Penguins were playing without injured centres Evgeni Malkin and Nick Bjugstad and were unable to take advantage of the Jets thin blue-line.

The Jets finished their season-opening road trip at 2-2 and will play their home opener Thursday night against the Minnesota Wild at Bell MTS Place.

“I’m happy with it, to be honest with you, missing the guys we have,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “And then they feel good, like the defence has done something to make that happen, they’ve been a real big part of it. You play .500 on the road and win your home games, you’re a good team.”

The Heinola story just keeps getting better and better. Drafted 20th overall by the Jets back in June, the 18-year-old Finn surprised everyone by making the team out of training camp and he immediately played a huge role for the team in the first four games of the season.

On Tuesday he played 17:25, scored the goal and was a plus-3.

“It was really good that it comes now so I don’t have to wait any more,” Heinola said. “Mark (Scheifele) gave me a good pass and I just shot. I just saw Mark get the puck and I just tried to wait in a line where I could shoot the puck. And I just shoot the puck and it went in.”

Jets captain Blake Wheeler retrieved the puck for Heinola, who scored in the first game his parents, from Finland, were not attending. They saw his three games in the New York area but are back in Winnipeg, waiting to watch him play in the home opener.

Heinola had two assists already coming into Tuesday’s game, but a first goal is something special.

“I was just like “Let’s go” and nothing else,” he said.

“It was a good moment for me, of course. It was exciting. Of course, I was dreaming of that.”

It was a big night for Hellebuyck, who allowed five goals on 31 shots in a season-opening loss to the New York Rangers and bore the brunt of the fans’ wrath. Maurice chose to play backup Laurent Brossoit in both New Jersey and against the New York Islanders, making some wonder if Hellebuyck’s grip on the No. 1 job was slipping.

“Well, he needed a piece of it,” Maurice said. “He was good and solid and just kind of built. And then we were leaning on him real heavy. He looked like Connor Hellebuyck tonight. He was big.”

PIONK’S NO-LOOK GOAL

Pionk got a big goal for the Jets in the second period off a goal-mouth scramble, but he didn’t even realize he had scored.

He shovelled the puck between his legs, past Penguins goalie Matt Murray (who made only 18 saves) after joining the fray in front of the net.

“I was driving the net and it went back to Patty Laine,” Pionk said.

“Thank goodness he didn’t hit me because he shoots pretty hard. I got out of the way and then I saw it at the side of the net and tried to jam it in and then I got turned around. I saw it in between my legs and I kinda just swiped it. I got up and (Scheifele) told me it went in. So, perfect.”

HITS KEEP ON COMING

In his 22 years of coaching in the NHL, Maurice has never seen anything quite like what has happened with his defence this year.

Because of off-season departures, Dustin Byfuglien’s indecision over his playing future, injuries to Morrissey and Nathan Beaulieu and the birth of Dmitry Kulikov’s child, the Jets iced six defencemen with a combined 350 games of NHL experience on Tuesday.

By contrast, the six Penguins defencemen in the lineup entered the contest with 2,957 games of experience.

“This would be a new experience for us,” Maurice said before Tuesday’s game.

“But, you know what, the attitude has been good, they’ve worked hard, they’ve stayed positive, they’re still trying to make plays.

“They’re not showing a lot of tentative play out there, which is really good. There’s been some good play there.”

At the end of the playoffs last season, the Jets had a veteran-laden, rock-solid defence corps that included Jacob Trouba, Morrissey, Byfuglien, Ben Chiarot, Tyler Myers and Kulikov.

Their combined salary for this season is $7.025 million. To put that into perspective, Byfuglien is considering walking away from his $7.6 million annual salary.

“It’s all about growth for that blue line,” Maurice said. “You’ve got new pairings, you’ve got guys who haven’t been regulars in the NHL. Our guys have lots of confidence in their ability to move the puck and we’ve got to do a real solid job as a forward group. We’ve got a lot of guys who have played in the NHL and are capable of helping those guys on defence out.”

MISSING MORRISSEY

The situation with Morrissey remains somewhat mysterious, although it certainly sounds like the Jets are holding him out of the lineup as a precaution against developing any concussion symptoms.

However, Maurice said he has not been diagnosed with a concussion.

He was injured after colliding with a teammate during the pre-game warmup in Long Island on Sunday and missed the Jets’ game against the New York Islanders.

However, he practised normally on Monday in Pittsburgh and Maurice said afterward that he passed all the tests and would be good to go Tuesday night.

About an hour after practice, Morrissey “didn’t feel great” and the Jets decided to hold him out again Tuesday, as a precaution.

“We just want to be real careful, that’s all,” Maurice said.

Kulikov, the Jets most experienced defenceman, was already slated to miss the game for personal reasons.

The Jets called up Niku and Nelson Nogier from the AHL prior to the game.

Niku was immediately inserted into the lineup, while Nogier was added for depth. Niku played 17:01 and had three blocked shots and two shot attempts during the game.

Niku was expected to be a part of the Jets defence corps this season but he was in a car accident during training camp and later suffered a groin injury.

He played two games with the Manitoba Moose this season, recording one assist.

He got back from a game in Texas on Sunday, found out Monday morning that he was getting called up and flew to Pittsburgh in the afternoon.

“Of course it wasn’t easy, how camp went,” Niku said. “I knew I might need some time in the AHL to get my conditioning back. Now I’m good to go and I feel pretty good myself.”

LITTLE COMING ALONG

It sounds like veteran Jets’ centre Bryan Little is getting close to returning to the lineup after taking a hit to the head in the team’s final pre-season game.

He wore a gold non-contact jersey during practice on Monday and handled it well. The Jets don’t practice again before their home opener against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, so it might be hard for Little to get into the lineup that day, but he’s coming along.

“He went hard (on Monday),” Maurice said. “You can follow the stages. Once a guy gets into the gold, we want him to push on the ice. Just no contact.

FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED

Hellebuyck still has it

Though he’s been maligned by fans for a poor pre-season and his performance in the Jets first game of the regular season, Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck looked like his old self on Tuesday. He let in the first shot he faced but then stopped the next 37 that came his way. It was a statement game from the former Vezina Trophy finalist.

Here to stay?

It sure looks like 18-year-old rookie Ville Heinola is here to stay. He scored his first NHL goal Tuesday night and now has a goal and two assists in his first four career games. He’s also handled the big minutes Paul Maurice has thrown his way, with so many injuries on the blue-line. The Jets have the option of sending Heinola down to the AHL or to play in Finland if he plays nine games or less in the NHL, without activating his entry-level contract, but it’s hard to imagine them doing anything of the kind now.

How about that D?

The Jets iced a lineup with six defencemen who had a combined 350 games of NHL experience and looked no better than an AHL D corps on paper. So, what happened? Three of the six defencemen — Heinola, Tucker Poolman and Neal Pionk — got goals and their defensive zone play was solid enough to help the Jets get an uplifting and extremely rare win over the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena. Go figure.

Laine’s flying

Jets winger Patrik Laine has looked very good in the Jets first four games and, on Tuesday, he picked up three assists for his trouble. He would have had a fourth, had Mark Scheifele’s second-period goal not been wiped out after an offside challenge. Scheifele also had three assists and the Jets forwards, on the whole, played a good defensive game.

The streak is dead

Since the Jets moved from Atlanta in 2011, they had not won a single game in Pittsburgh until Tuesday night. They were 0-7-2 since that time and had lost 18 straight games in Pittsburgh, dating back to 2007. It took an outstanding team performance, but the Jets finally ended that crazy streak.

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.